I came home from the grocery store on Good Friday and sobbed. Here’s what happened that pushed me over the edge. To cry over spilled milk…
Early Friday morning I decided to get out of my bathrobe and actually put on clothes. I wanted to get to the grocery store for “senior shopping hour”.
The parking lot was FULL when I drove in. Wow! Must be a lot of us “seniors” who get up and at ‘em in the morning. The store was full of masked grown-ups, kindly taking turns choosing our bunches of fresh asparagus.
When finished, I found a peaceful looking checker with only one woman in line. So, I unloaded my cart and smiled. It wasn’t even 8 a.m. yet.
Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a visibly harried young man come up behind me. Since he only had three gallons of milk in his cart I said, “Please go ahead of me” and smiled. He did. I was relieved that his frenzy vibe was now in front of me and no longer at my back.
Always the recovering ‘fixer’, I breathed and sent him peace and calm. I didn’t pause and tell the checker to put the man’s milk on my tab. I wish I had.
The young man chatted with the checker while paying and I overheard him talk about his wife, who works there at the store. He was anxious because she’s ill and been off work. He was also upset because it was their baby’s first birthday and they had to cancel the party.
As I walked out of the store, I saw him again. He was slamming the rear passenger door of his car. And swearing. He was pissed. A gallon of milk had spilled.
I felt sad. Helpless. Unable to help that young man who doesn’t have the tools to navigate the ocean of emotion that we’re all engulfed in.
So, I dissolved into a torrent of hopeless tears when back home. I wept for him and thousands of others whose immune systems are taxed by the stress we’re all experiencing. Loss of life-as-we-knew-it.
Today is Easter Sunday.
You’ve taken time to open this letter. You want to be uplifted.
So here is what I know…
As a culture we’ve always:
- Pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps
- Pushed our way through to set and get goals.
“While we have learned much about acquiring things,
we have precious little accurate information on what to do when we lose them.”
~John W. James and Russell Friedman, The Grief Recovery Handbook
It is time to PAUSE.
It is time to discover the Power within us as we navigate this loss. To feel and be renewed by the Inner Stillness that is always there.
Today, on Easter Sunday, I invite you to walk to the window and pause as you look out. (Hopefully, it’s a beautiful spring day where you are.)
Exhale forcefully.
Pause. - Feel the power of this pause.
Now inhale through your nose, mindfully noticing the temperature of the air coming in. Notice where the air goes in your body
Now exhale out through your nose.
Pause and ask yourself, “Do I want to be outside in this moment? Is it wise for me to go out?”
If you feel a “YES” in your body, mask up. Then pause when you step into nature.
Pause.
Be AWARE as the ball of your foot contacts the ground beneath you. Walk mindfully, knowing you are not alone.
As Wayne Dyer says,
“Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is,
rather than as you think it should be.”
Happy Easter. Happy Spring.
Love all around, above, below, to the left and to the right, before you and behind you,
Georgena
